Don’t Give Up On Me

I’ll be back soon. Working on some posts. Some exciting things to share with you. I just have to find the time to write the posts!

Resurrection

There I was last night on the sofa watching the tour when I received an interesting email (you know who you are) asking if I had abandoned my blog.

I was a little surprised that someone had even taken notice. I know I have some followers and this lead me to beloved that some of them might be pretty loyal and actually care about what I have to say.

I also know that a stale blog is a bad blog. I’ve tried in the past to post regularly but I suppose recently I’ve gotten away from the routine of posting.

The reason for my hiatus is simply that it’s just been crazy busy. Work is busy. Life in general is busy. And it’s July, which unlike last year with all the rain, it’s sunny and warm. Okay more like hot. So no excuses not to ride. July also means the Tour so more hours spent following/watching cycling.

I have some life experiences, not unlike your own, that might be worth sharing. So forgive me as I back track a bit over the last several months. There should be enough content there to keep me blogging for a bit longer.

Stay tuned! I’ll be back with postings soon.

Spring Riding

How does life get to be so busy that I just can’t find the time to blog?

Fortunately my busy life has included some incredible outdoor riding in some unseasonably warm spring temperatures.

Normal temperatures for Maine this time of year is in the 40-degree range. Lately many days have been in the mid 50’s. We even had several days this past week in the 60’s.

Several Portland Velo Club women joined me on rides this week. We even joined another women’s ride Wednesday for a total of 17 riders that night.

This has been a long drought of snow. I think our last significant snow storm was in December or January. But it’s been fine by me because I’ve been able to be outside biking a fair bit this winter. Now the weather has been unseasonably warm, driving more of us out on our bikes.

Today I managed to get out for an early morning group ride with the PVC Women followed by 90-minutes of yoga. I left the house at 6:30 am and managed to return at noon. Two things I love to do but took up half my day. Now, that doesn’t mean that it always take up half my day, it just worked out that way.

The weather is turning cooler next week but with Daylight Savings Time I’ll still be able to be out on the road after work for some training rides as long as we don’t see any snow.

Computer Time = No Bike Time

I seem to have more computer time than workout time these days. Between blogging. or in this case not blogging, and tweeting, and making movies for friends from photos and videos I’ve been taking, I’m spending more time on my computer, and my butt, than I am on the bike or the treadmill.

I keep saying, “Next week will be better.” Then the week turns into the month and the next thing I know I’ve gone days without working out.

Yesterday was a lovely day to bike outside but I had some errands to run so I decided to hit the trainer for a bit instead. Mistake! I should have ridden outside when it was nice because as we all know, riding the bike on the trainer sucks!

Do any of you get so you like riding the trainer? If so, what do you do to “make it fun”?

What are some of the challenges you are faced with that keeps you front the bike, or other physical activities to stay fit?

A New Year, A New Focus

You know when you’ve been away from something for a while it’s hard to get back to it?

Like exercise. Or smoking. Or chocolate. Okay, not chocolate, but you get the point.

That’s where I am with the blog.

Gosh, I’ve just been so busy that I just haven’t had the time to post anything, especially anything of real value.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’ve been on my bike much lately either. Up until last weekend when we received a bit of snow Saturday night, I was still out riding on the roads on the weekends. I’d ride a couple hours Saturday and a couple hours Sunday, followed by 90 minutes of yoga after the Sunday morning ride. But my efforts during the week haven’t amounted to much with other obligations during the week. Though I have managed to get into a routine of yoga on Thursday evenings.

Sometimes I feel like Twitter is my blog these days. It’s a quick easy way I can update “everyone” without having to put much time and energy into a meaningful blog posting.

I suppose the biggest thing that has been consuming my time has been my involvement with the newly formed Portland Velo Club (PVC) Women’s Club.

This is very exciting news. It’s been a passion of mine for a while now to get more women involved. Luckily, I think David and Eddie of Cyclemania also recognized a need for this in the Greater Portland area. I think this group is going to have tremendous success for the simple reason that it is advertised to all women from all different backgrounds who participate in triathlons, road races, and charity events.

The goal is to have women participate in 6 events throughout the season and can be a mixture of the disciplines listed. We will also be a organizing women’s ride in the Greater Portland are, open to all women, that will be a moderately paced 30-mile ride on Monday evenings in the summer months. There is also interest of forming a morning ride for women only.

At the initial meeting in October we had 30+ women show up all excited about the prospect of a women’s team/club. It was proposed that the women, working with the current PVC kit template, be allowed to redesign the kit with colors of their choice. So a couple were created and voted on and the winner was:

There have been a few meetings to try to keep organized with the orders for the new kit and the memberships, as well as coming up with ideas to keep the members informed and keep the momentum going even though the season has pretty much come to a close. Among communication methods such as a Google Group and Facebook Group, I”ve started a new blog for the PVC Women. However, I have solicited some help in the form of multiple authors to keep it fresh and updated. We are also working on some training events after the first of the year.

Now the holidays are here and I’m feeling totally unprepared. I haven’t had time to even think about it, to the point where this is nothing in my home to even give you the impression that it’s Christmas.

With a new year almost upon us, it’s time to refocus, start training again for the upcoming season, and try to keep my blog up to date with interesting content. Some of it might involve my endeavors with the PVC women’s group as this will become a significant focus for me. I also hope that, if you are a woman, you’ll want to check out the new PVC women’s blog once in a while.

Too Busy to Blog

I’m saddened to say that I’ve been too busy to blog. Here’s why (from last week’s schedule):

Sunday: Cleaned the house then went to the Old Port to meet some friends for lunch at Ri Ra’s and walk around with them.

Monday: PVC ride, then a double back to catch the last of the CCCP ride, then drinks out with the group.

Tuesday: Commute to/from work then dinner and the Neko Case concert at Port City Music Hall.

Wednesday: Dinner with friends at the Portland Yacht Club – they are members, not us.

Thursday: Ran errands after work for two hours, because I hadn’t had time to do them earlier in the week, followed by making something for a company BBQ the following day.

Friday: Movie (Julie & Julia) with hubby and a friend.

Saturday (yesterday): Early morning ride for 2.5 hours, yard work, then Bay Stock, which was a concert on the Maine State Pier featuring Jason Spooner Trio, Gypsy Tailwind, and Guster.

Sunday (today): a 2 hour ride then scraping and painting outside for 7+ hours.

Yup, it’s been crazy busy! This week should be better. Or at least after tomorrow. I’ll go for my normal Monday night ride, followed by drinks with the crew, then home to make a dish for hubby for his monthly pot luck at the office.

As you can imagine, not only was there no time to blog, but there was no time to ride. Grrr. After practically the month of July off I was starting to get back at it consistenty and then hit with a heavy week of socializing, which don’t get me wrong, is a lot of fun. I just hoped to be able to work in a few more rides.

The rest of the week will be “quiet” but I’m on a mission to get a few projects done prior to company coming at the end of the month, not to mention the normal routine to-dos such as laundry, general cleaning, etc. In between I’ll do my best to get something interesting posted. (I would have had a nice Neko Case video to post but it turned out kinda crappy from my phone.) So why don’t you check out her interview on Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me instead? (Special thanks to my friend Scotty for posting this on FB – it’s really great!)

Turtle Pond

There is a race in Loudon, NH today known as Turtle Pond. It’s an 11+ mile circuit race with 3 laps of the circuit.

Several team members are racing. A few weeks ago I was going to register. Then I decided not to and just stay put to work on my fitness. However, this week I had a change of heart and registered Thursday evening before it closed on BikeReg.

The weather is supposed to be terrific with temps in the 70’s or perhaps low 80’s. That in itself will be a shock to my system.

The Cat 3/4 field is almost full at almost 45 participants. The Pro1/2 is very light so unfortunately the decision was made to start all the women together. This will suck because the Pro1/2’s will go off the front and the 3’s, hoping to cat up, will chase hard.

My tactics for the day: try to stay on a wheel and in contact with at least the last group (certainly don’t want an individual time trial of 30 miles!), watch what goes on in the race, and above all – have fun! It will be a total learning experience.

With that in mind, no pressure. That said, I was still up pretty early this morning thinking about the race – my nerves wreeking havok again. It will settle down we are let go. Perhaps I can even harness some of it to my advantage.

I’ll post photos and my account sometime over the course of the weekend.

I’m a Bad Blogger

I’ve been a bad blogger. I shudder to think the last time I updated. Iguess I find that my life has been pretty boring lately.

The last few weeks I’ve been so busy with work (isn’t it always the way), then taking an Access class through Adult Ed a couple nights a week, and trying to get in a little training. Emphasis on little.

I have been joyfully riding at least one day over the weekends for the past couple weeks. This weekend I should be able to ride outside both days.

I need to ramp up my fitness and biking because my USA Cycling license arrived today. It’s going to take a lot to get me ready for the upcoming season. The change to Daylight Savings Time should allow me to be out on the roads after work, weather permitting, for more consistent training.

Bring on spring!

Bobke Shaves His Head for Fatty and Livestrong

Our Public Lives

There have been so much buzz from friends about Facebook. Seems everyone is on it, or Myspace. Emails come in from friends requesting me to be their friend. Aren’t I already their friend? Do I have to be on Facebook to be their friend?

So I succumbed to the pressure. I signed up for Facebook. My page is rough and I don’t anticipate to be there much. The way I look at it is this: at least I’m there for others, as a friend, in the event they want to reach out to me. And isn’t that’s what a friend should do? Besides, I’ll have my 25-year class reunion in a couple years and it’s a good way to keep in touch with classmates.

As I was checking out my reader today, I saw an updated post from Joe Friel saying that he is now twittering. Ugh!! I was so disappointed. I really love reading all the wonderful information that Mr. Friel posts on his blog. I hope he continues to pass his knowledge about training and cycling on his blog, even if at a lesser frequency. (As least I’ll have his book soon.)

I did go to his twitter page. I just don’t get the twitter thing. It just seems like a lot of idle dribble and doesn’t seem like the forum to deliver a wealth of information.

Facebook reminds me of that as well.

I mean no offense to anyone. Truly I don’t.

Though I’m sure many people think that this blogging thing is a little odd. I mean I’ve tried to convince my mother and my sister to check out my blog from time to time, which would give them a good handle on what’s going on in my life, but they don’t seem too interested. Or they just don’t get it.

So, let me ask the question to you: what do you think about all of these ways to make your life public? If you are here then perhaps you are a fellow blogger? Do you also twitter and/or have a Facebook/Myspace page?